The present invention relates to a framework for use in transporting or housing automobiles or goods (hereinafter refered to as automobiles or the like) and, more particularly, a framework capable of being assembled in the hatch of a ship or at a harbour for the purpose of shipping or temporarily housing automobiles or the like. Further, the present invention relates to a framework capable of being used as a common garage for automobiles.
Conventionally, there have been used foldable containers built with heavy iron frames to transport automobiles or the like. However, these containers have had functional disadvantages that: for example, these containers can be used only in such a manner as a unit of container per an automobile, of whatever size it may be; cranes, fork lifts or the like are needed to install or move these containers; the space necessary for housing automobiles or the like is occupied by these empty containers after use; total weight of automobiles or the like to be loaded in a ship must be greatly reduced due to the weight of these heavy containers; and the cost per unit of container is noneconomically high. These disadvantages as mentioned above have become a barrier in transporting automobiles or the like.
Further, conventional steps adopted to temporarily house automobiles or the like at the harbour were to instal permanent garages or to park automobiles or the like in wide open spaces. However, these steps have resulted in high cost in building permanent garages and made it disadvantageous to load or unload automobiles or the like into or from a ship at a narrow harbour.
Further, in order to park numerous automobiles gathering to, say, a fair, there has been no efficient step but using wide open spaces.
The present invention is intended to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantages encountered at the time of housing automobiles or the like. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a framework permitting both assembly and dismantling thereof to be easily accomplished when used for shipping automobiles or the like in a ship and wherein the dismantled components of the framework after use occupy an extremely small space. A further object of the present invention is to provide a framework capable of housing numerous automobiles or the like in a narrow space at a harbour. Another object of the present invention is to provide a framework permitting both assembly and dismantling thereof to be easily accomplished when used for temporarily accommodating numerous automobiles or the like in a small space.
Other objects and other advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood from the following description of some preferred embodiments of the present invention taken along with the accompanying drawings wherein: